Rangers-Canadiens in review

1) So now it’s 50 wins, and all they need is to go 2-2 to tie the ’93-94 team’s franchise record of 52. That’s secondary. Their magic number on Pittsburgh is three. That’s any combination of points the Rangers get or Pittsburgh fails to get that equals three. Simpler: If the Rangers go 1-3, Pitt must go 4-0. Or, if the Rangers go 0-2 and Pitt 2-0 until Thursday and the Rangers win that game, in regulation, OT or breakaway contest, it’s over. There is also a magic number with Philly — one. The Filthy crud could still mathematically catch the Rangers if the Flys win all five of their remaining games and the Rangers go 0-4. That’s the only possibility. Philly hosts Ottawa today at 1.

2) I know it’s been three in a row against non-playoff teams, though I completely agree with the players and the coach who said that those games can be difficult against a team that has nothing to lose, nothing to play for, no pressure at all.

3) That said … if you’re looking for direction headed into the postseason, the Rangers are getting stingy again, Henrik Lundqvist is playing terrific in goal again, they’re getting PPGs all of a sudden, and secondary scoring all of a sudden, and offense from their defense all of a sudden. Plus, you have to like that the high battle level has come back into their game, the bite, the fight for loose pucks, the aggressiveness on the puck and in pursuit of it. The top players are all playing at or near the top of their games. It’s starting to look like mid-season again. Which, you know, was pretty good.

4) I liked that Lundqvist was mad at himself for allowing the one goal. He was really, really solid in this one. I think it’s really smart to ride him now. Maybe Martin Biron gets one of the last two if everything’s clinched. And I thought Marc Staal, off that dreadful performance in Minny, had back-to-back solid, physical, engaged performances.

5) If you’re still not convinced that you like Brian Boyle … well, maybe you never will … but if you like him a little, or just want to like him a lot more, scroll down and listen to him talk in the post-game interviews thread, when I asked him what it meant when office Steven McDonald talked about the admirable way the Rangers play during last night’s award ceremony. I first saw officer McDonald in 1988, when Phil Esposito’s regime founded the award, and his son was just a toddler. So nice to see him all grown up, a cop himself now. Also listen to Boyle talk about playing in New York, about Ryan Callahan, about how he’d be happy to sit on the bench when the power play is clicking without him … all that team-first stuff that makes him so valauble. Plus he’s been a beast physically.

6) I was trying to find a photo of the ceremony and thinking how much fun it would be to have a caption contest of The Captain, Mark Messier posing with The Captain, Ryan Callahan. So if you got one, throw it in the comments below.

7) Officer McDonald sometimes says some outrageous fan-stuff in these ceremonies. This time what he said was perfect. “Play like champions and we’ll see you in June.” And you could see the pride in John Tortorella’s face as McDonald spoke.

8) Before the game, I saw John Rostawanik. He’s the son of the late Old Coach, one of the great Boneheads who passed on last year. John Jr. is one of the coaches at Suffern High, which just won the New York State Division 1 ice hockey championship in Utica a couple of weeks ago. John Jr. is certain that his dad redirected a couple of close calls Suffern’s way in the championship game. Congrats to the Mounties, to head coach Rob Schelling and his brother Rich and the entire staff and players.

9) Again, it was Montreal, OK? But the PP scored twice, and it scored because it’s moving the puck, and because the players are moving their feet. It seems they’re playing more off the half boards now, and it seems that Brad Richards, Michael Del Zotto, Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahan are playing as well as they have all season, individually and collectively. Derek Stepan’s looked good there lately, too. In case you missed it, the Rangers are 24-1-4 when they score a PPG. Though it’s crazy that they’ve only scored in 29 of 78 games.

10) Gaborik got No. 39, and he looked as if he won’t be satisfied with 40. Looked like he wants 50.

11) Carl Hagelin used his wheels more in this game than he has lately.

12) I thought the new Brandon Dubinsky-Boyle-Callahan line looked pretty good. But I wonder if that weakens the third line. Or is it more important to have two strong lines? I just think that Boyle with Prust, or whomever, as a checking line, gives them more overall balance and makes it more likely that the ice time for the top two lines isn’t crazy minutes. But what do I know? This is the time to experiment, right?

13) I also think Thursday’s game at Pitt could be uglier than Tuesday’s game at Philly if it’s all settled by then.

14) Ira Podell of the AP told me yesterday was the anniversary of the Canadiens’ first Stanley Cup in 1916. I think that was Chris Chelios’ rookie year.

Great review, Carp! Good stuff on Boyle, Steven McDonald and his son, I was emotional last night watching it. NY surely knows how to do it.
RIP Old Coach. Was always enjoyable to read his comments. Happy for his son.
Rob M- I’m sure that was exactly what Carp meant. They get 3 points whichever way in the next 2, and the game Thursday means nothing.

When I saw Stephen McDonalds son Connor, it was amazing how long they have been doing this. He was a little boy when he started. LOVED what Stephen said about playing in June! Awesome! And so well deserved by Cally. The epitome of extra effort.

Really like the movement on the PP. People skating around and switching positions ….. Good stuff and could be the difference in the Playoff’s.

They call Steven McDonald officer , but he wears a dectective shield , he ‘s a Dect.

There are very few similarities between this team and the 94 team .
If this team sets a team record for wins and points and doesn’t ride down the canyon of heroes in June are you still happy ?or happy with a * ?

I have been very tough on Staal this season for his poor play. But last night for the first time all season, Staal started to resemble the player he was before the injury. He was aggressive, assertive and very physical. It was good to see. My three stars are

Our boys will not be looking past these next four games. They’re on top of the entire league and they talk about improving. This season has had some pretty high highs and the lows haven’t been that low. This season has been such a joy.

One aspect rarely mentioned which is a source of pride for me is that this team plays HARD, but they’re not a filthy, dirty bunch of cheap shot carcillos.

They’re also not a one and done team. Who doesn’t think they’re not going to be even better next year? The future is bright indeed!

Czech, I agree. Me, too. I want to publicly repent for any negative comments about Staal. He’s had a good two games. True, against non-playoff teams, but he played the minutes, was more aggressive, and had less (but some bonehead, still) turnovers. He can still be a 2nd line defenseman, maybe.

Carpy, nice review. The effort was strong against a ‘nothing’ team. These are the type of games you can lose.

The kill was pretty good. Henrik (who had a ‘lull’ in games 55-75) was seeing everything and obviously working on positioning. He was terrific! (15 games ago, I did state here he was not as sharp: he is back!).

Only thing that still concerns me is the PP. Can’t go all the way without it. Nice going 2 for whatever, however, its a last place team, and they did the one thing that the Rangers have responded to all year (was Montreal trying to lose???) and came up high. The point men know to send it low, grab a 3 on 2, and that works well for us. Not convinced on the PP. Let’s see how we do against good teams.

Chellio’s rookie year! HAAAAA! The boy was thrilled to see you last night. Great article today on the trade that sparked this current good run. HAd 5 drunk young people, 2 girls, 3 guys behind us last night. What makes a 21 year old girl think that using the f-bomb every other word out of her mouth is attractive? Some of the ranger “fans” are as bad as the philly bums.

If you didn’t see it, he went down with about 5 min to go awkwardly and his face looked really red on the bench, but I think it was his left shoulder/arm that got extended and then crushed when he went down.

He doesn’t take pain like the older guys do, whines, etc., but he looked like he didn’t use his left arm/shoulder to get off the ice (and didn’t play any more shifts).

It was indeed a really fine game against a team that for some strange reason always gives them problems.

I had happened to watch the scene when the Pens were playing somebody, and the camera stopped at the Somebody;s goal, and there was little Lord Crosby standing all alone in front of the net, just him and the goaltender. All of a sudden here is the puck at the little Lord’s feet and it startled him so much that he swatted it like it was a mosquito, and bingo . into the stunned goalie’s net for apparently the winning goal. Oh the clamor and the carrying on…you’d have thought it was final cup winner. What a performance.

i got the game on the nhl network since I am not in NY, did not get the mcdonald presentation. also the nhl network has crap scrolling on the bottom the whole game, it actually affects viewing of the game. the puck is usually at the bottom of the screen.

stuart I HATE THAT!! it’s so frustrating trying to watch games now with all the carcillo on the screen. First row actually had an MSG link, so i finally got to see the ceremony. Always classy.

Like I said last night, Hank is dialed in. He’s got that look in his eyes again, he is going to be STELLAR for the remainder of their season. The boys also seem to have regained their battle level, and their November/ December mojo.

I was at the game and the most hilarious parts were when the crowd was mockingly chanting the Habs goal song “ole ole ole ole”. Then when they finally scored and Habs fans acted like they tied the game the crowd started changing “last place!” and “your seasons over!”

it was mentioned in the nhl network broadcast that montreal’s pk is one of the tops in the league, as is ours. i think they said they were ranked 2nd prior to last night’s game. dont think that just because a team’s having a bad year means that they aren’t good at anything. see marek malik as example 1 of misleading stats.

Staal, I guess you could ask Torts on that. The way I heard and read it was that he was a bit like todays athlete’s that drop dead on the floor and then realize it ain’t so bad and get up and walk away. I’m not saying he’s cowardly, just from Tort’s comment as I read it, the kid could react in a tougher way to pain. Perhaps I am wrong.

Girardi and Callie get hit more in one game than he does in weeks. You often don’t even see them even react. Carmello gets bumped and he’s out for a month. Hockey players are a tough breed. Especially those that have been around a while. My interpretation was that the ‘kid’ needs to toughen.

On the bench he was writhing in pain, head down. He is such an important player, but it happened late so one could argue he didn’t miss a shift, so it was hard to tell how bad it was from a fan’s perspective. He did not go back on the ice except to raise sticks. When he did it was his right hand he raised his stick with, high, like everyone else, but his left arm/shoulder was not moved. Also, when he left the ice, sometimes skaters will use a hand to steady as they get off the ice. His left arm was not moved.

Fingers crossed. He is an important part of the mix that makes this a good team. Depth we don’t have.

Captain’s Courageous!!! Do you recall that great B&W movie from the 30;s with Spencer Tracy and Eward G.
Robinson..oh, and Freddy Bartholemew..great story and acting….and the action.

Some wonderful movies were made back then, not the explosions and cars flying thru the air, and everyone with guns in NY flying from one building to the next and firing tons of small arms ammo without ever hitting any one important…you’ve seen one and you’ve seen them all.

The team is clearly focused on getting the ship battle-ready for the POs. You can just see the way they are playing together, starting to know exactly where everyone is and is going on the ice, etc.

The last 3 teams we beat are golfing in 2 weeks, but we needed to beat them and we did it quite convincingly. Now the tougher tests come. But if they can keep that snarl, that cohesion going, we’ll be in good shape.

McDonagh continues to improve every night. Is it me or did something just click on his offensive side in the last 6-8 weeks? Scotty Gomez….hahahaha.

Our leaders are doing it too. 24 and 30, but also 10 and 19 and 5. 18 still has a few gears higher I think which will come as he strengthens. He’s getting there though.

Most all players performed up to or better than expected. Not to be negative but maybe the guys who were off are: Dubi big time, Biron second half, Boyle slightly, Staal slightly, Feds, AA maybe, Richards first half, but that says real lot about the rest of this team.

iWicky "If you don't stop flapping your jaws, I'm going to knock you out on national tv" on
March 31, 2012 11:43 am

Do you guys remember when Callahan was taking all those really unnecessary penalties early in the season? It was like he was trying was trying to be chippy…what was that all about? Establishing himself as Ranger captain?

Now, he hasn’t taken a single penalty since February 24 against the Islanders…

I think an important thing to note is that of the Rangers’ 50 wins, only 4 came by shootout. So, even if you strip away the skills competition, 46 wins (with 4 to go) is still very impressive. That’s a legit first-place number.

Also, it looks great compared to Jersey (12), Pitt (9), Boston (8), among others. The Rangers had 9 last year.

Has anybody heard what the 1st round schedule will be? My brother will be in town from the 12th to the 16th, so it would be awesome to try to catch a playoff game (assuming we can get in the door for under $7,000).

according to Zip, there’s a concert at MSG 4/11 and Knicks 4/13, so he’s speculating 4/12 and 4/14 for Games 1 and 2. that’s speculation, though. depends a lot on what NBC (and Comcast and Mr. Snider) want.

Just can’t get enough of watching the youthful ‘d’ men we have. McD and MDZ are standouts. To have received the cap reduction we did from getting rid of one of Sather’s many mistakes (Gomez) was enough (what was Gainey thinking????, then again, what was Sather thinking when he signed Gomez and Drury???), but to consider that we got McD and Prusty out of it is awesome.

what was Sather thinking when he signed Gomez and Drury???)
——————————————-

Gomez was supposed to be the setup man for Jagr. They envisioned Gomez carrying the puck into the zone and dishing to Jagr and lighting up the scoreboard.

Drury? Mmmmm….Sather likes Little League baseball pitchers?

Actually, with Jagr supposedly going to score so many goals I guess he thought that they needed a clutch performer for the playoffs, since it was now clinched with the signing of the two $7 million wonders.

Yeah, it was quite a bit a magic that Sather pulled off to sign the two $7 million wonders.

I didn’t know all that many people that were thrilled with the Redden signing or Rozsival either. And, when they re-signed Rozy for $5 million a year there was a collective head slap all across the country.

2-1 Bruins over Fishies….. i REALLY think that Washington can get going at any moment (more so with Backstrom back now)…i hope they get into 7th place…. or that they take 3rd and Florida falls into 8th with Ottawa getting the 7th. or Florida 7th and Ottawa 8th. dont want Buffalo to make the playoffs.

ridiculously annoying listening to the Philly announcers yelling at every shot Philly takes. but it’s an awesome feeling when they dont score and you can tell the disappointment in the announcer’s voice.

carp nice article in the Journal News. The swede retiring from the Canucks and saving the Rangers $millions also helped a ton.

the gaborik signing has turned out to be 1 of the few FA signings that works. He has basically been worth the investment with 2 years left on his deal and he is only 30…

mdz, staal, girardi, and mcdonut best young core d group in hockey!!!! Sauer if healthy would give them a great top 5 and erixon is 20… really the riches on the blueline for the blueshirts is sick….stralman i 25 and not a bad 3rd pair guy. mcilrath in the wings a year or 2 away also…..

just need more forward depth, guys who can score 20. … playoffs battle of attrition and a injury upfront and the rangers are screwed.

Doesn’t Matteau make up for Zelepukin? I get chills every time I hear Howie Rose make that call..

I just watched the video, too, ORR. Classic. I was at that game 5.. the Devils fans started pouring out once Dubinsky scored the empty netter.. I had to step over some of the hats they threw to the ground in shame.

Matteau’s goal definitely did remediate what happened with Zelepukin, but I nearly blew a gasket when Z’s goal went in, and if I would have croaked right then, I wouldn’t have seen the Matteau heriocs! ;-D

Okposo scored his 21st goal. He got off to a similar start as Dublowsky. Couldn’t score at all. He really bounced back. Too bad Dublowsky couldn’t do the same. Still has a chance in the playoffs though.

Charlie, I really thought the Fishies might make 8th spot this year, like ORR – they can play a good game every once in awhile, and Tavares does look like a good player – their first line is good, offense-wise.

Neither can I, CCC- I really hold a lifelong grudge against that franchise – but they do have a few players that perform well. They’ll probably lose them in the off-season, though – they always screw the pooch with their incompetent front-office.

clinch home ice vs phil if comes to that. i wouldnt have minded phil winning today because eventually we would have gotten a point or they would have lost one. i want them to have home ice vs pitt and us to play sens

So our last game of the season will determine if we get the Caps or Buff Hun? Hoping selfishly for the Caps because I can see them at Verizon plus no Miller. I think it comes down to that last game with Biron in net and nothing to lose. Am I right Carp?

Most people like to toot their own beak’s, but the duckbill is a believer in self-deprecation, humility and selfless behaviour. AS such, he must once again owe up to his sentiments last year that Del Zotto was not going to be a factor at the NHL level due to the seemingly slow choppy strides. The Duckbill is wrong, and happy to fess up to his errors. That is all!™

what we have to hope for is the caps to go 4-0 and florida 2-2 florida is in detroit tom and also plays in wash thursday. if that happens rangers florida assuming we hang on to 1. it would be the 1vs 8 matchup and plenty of ranger fans will be invading florida

And the Craps blow a two goal lead against an equally pathetic Canadian team. I’m not scared of either of these teams! If they’re struggling to beat those two teams, then they’re not going to go far in the playoffs.

I haven’t given a lot of thought to Florida, eric – yes, I suppose so – they don’t seem like they are a very good team. I’ve been more concerned with our “natural rivals”, to be honest with you – the teams that always give us fits in series.

Carp,
you should’ve take off my emotional response on that jerk too, because now it looks really silly, like I’m addressing it to some of my fellow boneheads. Sorry, for my expansivity and intemperance.

So forget the politically correct answer . It’s the last day of the season. The Rangers have clinched the east and the presidents trophy. Caps have clinched eighth but a win gives them the se crown and the 3 seed and gives the rangers the panthers in round one. Now I know no way does torts rest anyone or play it this way, but what would youse do?

The Nucks were recently shutout by the Wild, with Harding in net, and lost 4-1 to the Habs. They might play crappy teams, but that doesn’t mean they’ll win them all. NYR wins the tiebreak if they’re tied.

3 of the Nucks final 4 games are against their Canadian rivals and even though Edmonton and Calgary are out, those are not automatic wins…. and Anaheim wont just roll over either. is it easier than Boston, Philly, Pens, and Caps? sure. but im not giving them the trophy just yet.

Hell, I just want the kitty cats in the 1st round so I can go to a game here in South FL. It’s been since 94′ that ive seen a playoff game…. 1st game vs the devs when Richer roofed it over richter in OT, but we all remember how that year worked out for us…. Bottom line- When I see Rangers playoff hockey live, we win Stanley cups ;)